My rear suspension has recently started to sag. so bad its starting to bottom out on my tires and wearing them down. i recently bought new shocks and havent installed them yet. ive heard that if you put to big of a load on springs it can kill them. i have hauled heavy loads with this XJ and was wondering if anyone could tell me what it is thats making it sag.

I replaced mine a year and a half ago and they are already sagging. This is with very little towing and weight in the back. It's a 99. I bought the springs from a local spring maker, won't do that again. When warm weather comes back I will replace them with either the stock HD ones (towing) or upcountry ones. What annoys me most is the spring wrap feel of crappy springs._________________Mike

your shocks really dont control ride height, they are just there to control the spring oscillation form your leafs. replacing your springs should help this. i solved this problem on my '99 by throwing in some 4" springs from Explorer Pro Comp (while i was at it i threw in the whole 4" kit too)

A better idea is to use S-10PU springs, got mine from an 86 extra cab and they haven't started to sag at all. Ba careful, adding them can also raise it up too. I got lucky and found a set from a lowrider, hell most time they give them to you

You could also do a add a leaf too or just get new ones?_________________"GODZILLA" More than a Jeep, it's family!!

A word of caution on AAL's. Since they go inbetween an already weak spring pack, they are a band-aid to a greater problem. They will provide added lift, but over a very short period of time they will take on more weight as the old pack loses its shape, and there you have the same problem with axle-wrap all over again (I witnessed this when I bought my Skycrapper 3" kit and got to watch my rear end drop back down after only a few months...). Throw on rear shackles, and the leaf pack wears out even faster due to the bowed geometry.

So, what is the best option in the long run? Replace the soft leaf packs with heavy duty ones. S-10 packs (and Dakotas as well) are great low-cost replacements and are beefier per leaf than the stock packs, so they work really well. Or you can spend the extra money and get yourself some real heavy duty packs from places like Rubicon Express, OME, and others. I bought Black Diamond (Superlift) 3" packs and 1.5" rear shackles for mine and they've handled quite a lot for the price I paid. It's also a good idea to use Teflon pads inbetween the leaves if you disassemble a pack to help reduce any possible binding that might occur. Some newer packs already come with Teflon coating on the leaves, so this is more for working around factory packs.

Another nice bit of info. Steer clear of lift blocks. Their only benefit is they're inexpensive. Their problems are numerous:

1: Puts more stress on the pack, multiplying axle wrap.
2: Most of the time they're cheaply made, and can shatter at the most inopportune moment under heavy loads or flex.
3: Need to be retorqued constantly to keep from working themselves loose.
4: Can be stacked to increase height, thereby increasing the chance for disaster exponentially.

The only problem is that the S10 springs add around 3" lift. If you are not looking to add lift, another option is to pick up a set of stock height HD leaf packs. They are stronger then then OEM packs and will stand up to heavy loads. To beef them up even further, you can take the main leaf from the old pack, cut the eyes off and add them to the HD pack. This will add just under an inch of lift, but since it's not adding arch they will not sag like aftermarket AAL's do. Doing this will help the springs stand up to heavy loads better and still maintain the stock ride as well._________________97 XJ Sport with a bunch of stuff

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